[doug_hti]

I agree highly with the last post.

But I HIGHLY reccomend you spend the money to get it mastered somewhere else. If you expect to get mileage out of it, then wouldn't this be a good investment?!?!

But if you MUST do it yourself, then don't focus as much on the dynamics as you seem to think, IT needs to be "louder", but with the limiting that the station has (magic box), I would concentrate on making the track brighter....burn some cds and make sure it sounds bright enough on all the car and home stereos you can try, that have no "bass" or "treble" increases....

I've heard a considerable amount of singles (on cd) remastered for the radio, by professionals, and they are definately a lot crunchier and brighter. Yes they are loud, but they are also almost harshly bright. But be careful if you increase the high shelving, especially if using plugs, as it will turn to plastic very quickly...

You also may want to edit your intros and outros down (if needed)...but the station may do that since they know it's coming from your home studio and may not expect you to deal with that.

But I promise if you send your songs off to Nashville or LA to get mastered, you won't regret it. Unless you have an incredible room and incredible playback system and incredible outboard dynamics and EQ, you can't touch what a even mediocre mastering facility can do.